JP7329145B2 - Watches with systems that control biometric access to sensitive data - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wristwatch having a system for biometric control of access to confidential data stored in a memory element of the wristwatch. More specifically, the invention covers a method of controlling access to at least one sensitive data recorded in a memory element of a wristwatch, and a system for implementing said method.

The invention further relates to a computer program product.

Some watches have a group of functions available to the wearer. Such functionality may allow viewing of the wearer's personal data, or access to financial institution services, commercial services (online shops, electronic payment processors), or e-mail services or instant messaging. The problem here is that once the wearer of the watch has been authenticated, anyone can access the functions of the watch. Specifically, if the watch is stolen, the wearer's personal and functional data can be accessed.

It can be understood that a solution to this problem, that is, a solution to the problems of the prior art, is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a safe, reliable and robust solution for controlling access to sensitive data recorded in a memory element of a watch.

Thus, in a method of controlling access to at least one confidential data recorded in a memory element of a watch, the memory element comprises general data and access by functions of the watch requires authentication of the wearer of the watch. comprising two data categories, the sensitive data, the method comprising:
authenticating the wearer of the watch to authorize access to the features of the watch;
selecting one of said functions of said watch requiring use of at least one of said confidential data or said general data recorded in said memory element;
determining the category to which the at least one data required by the function belongs;
verifying the identity of the wearer of the watch from at least one biometric information element contained within an area of the wearer's skin if the at least one data falls within the sensitive data category; ,
and authorizing use of the at least one sensitive data by the function once the identity of the wearer of the watch is verified.

In another implementation,
the determining step includes the substep of estimating a criterion value for access to the data that defines an association of the data to the sensitive data category or the general data category;
the determining step includes the substep of comparing the estimated access criterion value and a reference criterion value;
The verifying step includes obtaining, with at least one multispectral skin biometric sensor contained within the watch, a plurality of images of a region of the wearer's skin adjacent to the sensor; includes said at least one biometric information element contained in said skin site;
the verifying step includes the substep of generating a digital identification element from the at least one biometric information element contained within the captured image of the skin site;
the verifying step includes the substep of verifying a digital identification element generated assuming the authentication of the wearer;
The biometric information element relates to the vascular network or texture of the skin.

The invention furthermore provides a system for controlling access to at least one confidential data recorded in a memory element of a wristwatch and for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which systems are connected to each other. It also relates to a system comprising a processing unit, a multispectral skin biometric sensor, an input interface, a visual information reporting interface, and said memory element containing two data categories: general data and said confidential data.

The invention further relates to a wristwatch, in particular a mechanical smartwatch, comprising said system.

Computer program comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when executed by a processing unit.

Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following description, by way of example and not limitation. The description refers to the following accompanying drawings.

1 shows a schematic diagram of a wristwatch, according to an embodiment of the invention, comprising a system for controlling access to at least one sensitive data recorded in its memory element; FIG. Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a method for controlling access to at least one sensitive data recorded in a memory element of a watch, according to an implementation of the invention;

In FIG. 1 there is shown a wristwatch having a system 1 for controlling access to at least one sensitive data recorded in its memory element. Preferably, the watch 100 is a mechanical smartwatch comprising a body, such as a watch case, and a wearing element, such as a band, which allows the body to be worn on the wearer's wrist, for example. More specifically, this wristwatch 100 includes, but is not limited to and/or non-exhaustive,
a processing unit 2 comprising at least one processor cooperating with hardware and software resources, in particular a memory element 3 comprising two data categories, in particular general data 31 and confidential data 28;
a visual information annunciation interface 4, such as a hybrid display dial, provided with a first analog display and a second digital and/or alphanumeric display;
an input interface 5, such as a keyboard or touch interface, for example contained within a visual information reporting interface 4;
at least one imaging sensor 8a, at least one multispectral light source 8b capable of emitting radiation of wavelengths comprised between 300 and 1,100 nm, which may be laser-based, and at least one thermal imager. a multi-spectral skin biometric sensor 7 including a sensor 8c.

In this implementation of the invention, confidential data 28 is personal/confidential/private data of the wearer of watch 100, to which access by a given function of watch 100 requires authentication of the wearer. Become. General data, on the other hand, are so-called "public" data that may be relevant to the wearer and are freely accessible by a given function. For example, the confidential data 28 includes confidential information such as personal information of the wearer (financial institution information, name, address, date of birth, weight, age, gender, heart rate, sleep-wake cycle, etc.), images, videos , may include digital files related to documents (eg, in formats such as text, spreadsheets, XML, etc.). These confidential data 28 may further include encryption/decryption keys, certificates, authentication codes, passwords, and personal codes.

In this wristwatch 100 the processing unit 2 is in particular connected to a visual information reporting interface 4 , an input interface 5 and also a multispectral biometric sensor 7 . And, it should be understood that the multispectral biometric sensor 7 is located within the body of the electronic device 100 and/or within the wearable element.

This watch 100 ensures that the identification of the authenticated wearer is unaware of the wearer, i.e. without any direct intervention/interaction by the wearer of the watch 100 and therefore controlled while wearing the watch. is configured to ensure that and authentication of the wearer is made aware of the wearer, specifically based on at least one biometric information element contained within the skin of the wearer, such as the vascular network of the skin or the texture of the skin; done unnoticed. The skin overlying the wearer's body is not readily conceived by those skilled in the art in that areas of the skin at different depths cannot be naturally viewed with respect to their absorption and reflection properties at different wavelengths (spectra). There is such a uniqueness. Briefly, the skin is made up of a translucent, superficial layer called the "epidermis" and an underlying layer called the "dermis". The dermis contains blood vessels (or vascular networks) among other things. Within blood vessels, hemoglobin is highly reflective to long near-infrared wavelengths, eg, between 760 and 930 nm. Here, this allows the vascular network of the wearer's skin to be revealed and enhanced. That is, the absorption spectrum is not uniform between the epidermis and dermis that form the skin, depending on the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. The appearance and color of the skin are therefore due to a complex interplay of these phenomena. Thus, when it is desired to emphasize or reveal a biometric information element, such as the texture of the wearer's skin, which is primarily formed by a depression or dimple or the like, there is a tendency to eliminate shadow effects from the bottom of the dimple. Illumination of the skin can be ensured by a light source limited to near-infrared wavelengths. In fact, these near-infrared wavelengths produce a backprojection effect due to reflection on and through the epidermis. On the other hand, illumination of the skin with a light source with a different color spectrum than red, typically in the wavelength band spanning violet (400 nm) to yellow-orange (600 nm), casts shadows on the bottom of these skin depressions. The dents can be strongly emphasized by appearing. It should be noted that identification of biometric information elements contained within the skin may be enhanced by using the thermal imaging sensor 8c, preferably without illumination. For example, when emphasizing the texture of the skin, especially when the wearer has hair on the target area of the skin, the use of the thermal image sensor 8c makes it possible to reveal the dents in the skin texture. This is because the pit is generally hotter than the surrounding skin, and the hair is cooler than the surrounding skin. Thus, in this configuration, such a respective temperature difference allows the hair to be thermally distinguished from the skin texture.

It should be noted that depending on the biometric information element to be emphasized or revealed, a thermal image may be taken under illumination with a given wavelength.

Thus, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, at least one laser beam contained within a region of the wearer's skin that can be illuminated at different wavelengths to capture an image of the desired biometric information element, if desired. It should be appreciated that from the biometric information authentication of the wearer can be performed. Illumination with different wavelengths, or without illumination, for example when thermal imaging is performed, can thus highlight the relevant biometric information elements contained in these images.

In this watch, the memory element 3 of the processing unit 2 of the watch 100 contains sensitive data 28 and general data 31, as well as parameters for classifying these data into one of these two categories, sensitive or general. These memory elements 3 further include image digital processing algorithms 29 associated with the wearer's skin and capable of characterizing at least one biometric information element contained within the image associated with the area of the wearer's skin. This memory element 3 further contains an algorithm 30 for generating a digital identification element and a reference digital identification element.

As shown in FIG. 2, the system 1 implements a method of controlling access to at least one confidential data recorded in a memory element of the wristwatch, which includes two data categories: general data 31 and confidential data 28 mentioned above. configured to

The method includes a step 9 of authenticating the wearer of the wristwatch 100 to authorize access to use the functions of the wristwatch 100 . This authentication step 9 thus ensures that the wearer of the watch can be authenticated in such a way that he can access all functions of the watch 100 . Specifically, through interaction between the wearer and the input interface 34, the wearer can enter an authentication code or cipher to prove his/her identity.

Furthermore, these functions can be executed by processing algorithms executed by the processing unit 2 of the watch 100 when the functions are activated/selected through interaction between the wearer and the input interface 5 of the watch 100. be understood. These algorithms performed in this manner require the use of general data 31 and/or confidential data 28 . In the non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples presented herein, these functions of the watch include image or video editing functions, word processing functions, the ability to connect to financial institution services, commercial services (online shops, e-commerce store), the ability to connect to e-mail or instant messaging services.

After this authentication step 9, the method comprises a step 10 of selecting one of the above-mentioned functions of the watch, which requires the use of at least one of the above-mentioned confidential data 28 or general data 31 recorded in the memory element. In this step 10 , the function is selected from all watch functions displayed on the visual notification interface 4 through interaction between the wearer and the input interface 5 of the watch 100 . As mentioned above, such interaction further contributes to the execution of processing algorithms by processing unit 2 . It is intended in particular to perform the function in question from at least one data recorded in the memory element 3 that is required for the execution of the algorithm in this document.

The method then includes determining 12 the category to which the at least one data required by the function belongs. This step 12 includes a sub-step 13 of estimating a criterion value for access to the data defining the association of the data to the sensitive data category 28 or the general data category 31 . This sub-step 13 comprises performing computations by the processing unit 2 to obtain access criteria values, ie the nature or type of function based on the data and the classification parameters for the data. The parameters are associated with corresponding data and recorded in a memory element of the processing unit of the watch. This parameter defines whether the data is associated with the Confidential Data 28 or General Data 31 category. Such data are therefore likely to be necessary for the execution of different functions of the watch, depending on the nature or type of the functions in question.

Thus, this parameter may allow data such as images to be defined as confidential data for a given function of the watch and general data for another function. It will therefore be appreciated from this that which of these two categories of data items is associated with is related to the functionality that requires its use.

Decision step 12 then includes a substep 14 of comparing the estimated access criterion value and a reference criterion value. Here, at least one piece of data required by the function belongs to the category of confidential data 28 if the access criterion value is equal to or greater than the reference criterion value. On the other hand, if the access criterion value is less than the reference criterion value, the at least one data belongs to the general data category.

The method then verifies the identity of the wearer of the watch 100 from the at least one biometric information element contained in the area of the wearer's skin, if the at least one data belongs to the category of sensitive data 28. including step 15; This step 15 is systematically performed after it has been determined that at least one data that needs to be used to accomplish the selected function is associated with sensitive data 28 . This step is thus particularly carried out in such a way that the processing unit 2 can ascertain whether the wearer of the wristwatch 100 is actually the owner of the wristwatch. This step 15 includes a sub-step 16 of acquiring a plurality of images of the wearer's skin region with the sensor 7 . The area of skin is adjacent to the sensor 7 and the image includes the at least one biometric information element contained in the area of skin. This sub-step 16 includes illuminating 17 the skin area with different wavelengths. More specifically, in this step 17, the processing unit 2 controls the multispectral biometric sensor 7, in particular the light source 8b, to detect at least one of the above-mentioned unique biometrics in the skin, here to be detected. Illumination light is emitted toward the skin site at a specific wavelength suitable for highlighting or revealing the authentication information element. The obtaining substep 16 comprises taking 18 an image of the skin area illuminated with at least one wavelength likely to accentuate or reveal the at least one biometric information element when the illumination is set. including. In this phase 18, the processing unit 2 controls the multispectral skin biometric sensor 7, in particular the imaging sensor 8a, at given wavelengths, synchronously with the activation/deactivation of the light source 8b, so that at least one wavelength At least one image of the area of skin illuminated with is captured.

Acquisition sub-step 16 may further include taking 19 at least one thermal image of the area of skin. Preferably said step 19 is performed without illumination, but alternatively the site may be illuminated with at least one given wavelength. Naturally, this wavelength depends on the biometric information element to be emphasized or revealed. This step 19 can be performed before or after the lighting 17 and imaging 118 steps.

The verification step 15 then includes a substep 20 of generating a digital identification element from the at least one biometric information element contained within the captured image of the skin site. The sub-step 20 includes characterizing 21 the biometric information element contained within the image associated with the skin site. In this step 21 the processing unit 2 executes an algorithm 29 for processing the captured image. It is intended within each image to identify/detect said at least one biometric information element contained therein. As mentioned above, this can be, for example, an informational element relating to the skin texture or the vascular network contained within that skin area of the wearer. For example, execution of these algorithms 29, 30 by processing unit 2 may involve dividing these images into segments. In the present specification, each photographed image is an overall view of the wearer's skin region, so the identification of the at least one biometric information element may differ in degree of association between regions of the image. It will be understood. The segmentation process contributes to extracting segments to be processed and removing unprocessed portions from these images. These algorithms 29 may then include indexing in local regions of the skin site for those image segments containing features relating to the at least one particular biometric information element identified. As a result, appropriate treatment can be performed for each local region of the site according to the morphology type of the region. These algorithms 29 now process each segment of these images to enhance the information contained in the pixels of each of these images. Specifically, processing, transformation, and detection type image analysis operations are performed. These algorithms 29 then perform filtering and feature extraction or vectorization operations. This converts the image data relating to said at least one identified and extracted biometric information element into parametric data, typically relative numerical values, eg expressed as indices or percentages.

It should be appreciated herein that taking multiple images representing the same area of skin under different lighting or no lighting contributes to the accuracy and efficiency of this characterization step 21 .

The generating sub-step 20 subsequently includes designing 22 a digital identification element from the characterization of said at least one biometric information element. At this stage 22 the processing unit 2 executes the algorithm 30 . This is in particular the generation of said digital identification element for the purpose of processing the parametric data obtained in the characterization step 21 and relating to said at least one item of biometric information.

The verification step 15 then includes a sub-step 23 of authenticating the generated digital identification element assuming confirmation of the wearer's identity. This authentication sub-step 23 comprises a stage 24 in which the processing unit 2 compares the generated digital identification element with a reference digital identification element. In this method, the reference digital identification element may be generated once the wearer has been fully authenticated and his identity confirmed. Thus, in step 11 of defining this reference digital identifier, substeps similar to the capture and generation substeps 16 and 20 performed in verification step 15 occur. In the method, when the wearer of the wristwatch 100 is authenticated, the processing unit 2 performs this definition step 11 and records the resulting reference digital identification element in the memory element 3 of the processing unit 2 . This reference digital identification element can thus be automatically determined by the processing unit 2 . Alternatively, it may be set to the wearer in a calibration process intended to assist the wearer in defining the same reference digital identification element.

This comparison step 24 includes a sub-step of failing authentication of the wearer 25 if the generated digital identification element is substantially different or different from the reference digital identification element. In this case, processing unit 2 stops executing processing algorithms to accomplish this function. Furthermore, access to the watch 100, in particular access to the functions of the watch, is restricted. At this time, the wearer of the wristwatch is prompted again to prove his identity by entering an authentication code or cipher through interaction between the wearer and the input interface 34 when the authentication step 9 is carried out again. You will be prompted for authentication. In fact, the wearer and owner of watch 100 may not be holding the watch at the time.

The comparison step 24 further includes a sub-step 26 of successfully authenticating the wearer if the digital identification element is substantially identical or identical to the reference digital identification element. In this case, the method carries out a step 27 of authorizing the use of said at least one data contained in the category of sensitive data 28 to the wearer of the watch whose identity has been authenticated. In this step 27, the processing unit 2 proceeds from the data recorded in the memory element 6 to execute processing algorithms aimed at accomplishing the same function.

The invention further covers a computer program comprising program code instructions for performing steps 10 to 27 of the method when executed by the processing unit 2 of the watch 100 .

Claims (9)

A method of controlling access to at least one sensitive data (28) recorded in a memory element (6) of a watch (100) , said memory element (6) storing general data (31) and said watch ( 100) includes two data categories, said sensitive data (28) requiring authentication of the wearer of said watch (100) ;
authenticating (9) the wearer of the watch (100) in order to authorize access to the functions of the watch (100);
selecting (10) one of said functions of said watch (100) requiring the use of at least one of said confidential data (28) or said general data (31) recorded in said memory element (6); ,
determining (12) the category to which said at least one data required by said function belongs;
said at least one data systematically executed after said determination of association of said at least one data needed to be used to accomplish said selected function is included in said sensitive data (28) category; verifying (15) the identity of the wearer of said watch (100) from at least one biometric information element contained within a site of the wearer's skin, if so;
authorizing (27) use of said at least one sensitive data by said function upon approval of the identity of said wearer of said watch (100) ;
Said step ( 12 ) estimates a criterion value for access to said data defining an association of said data to said category of confidential data (28) or to said category of general data (31). a processing unit (2), comprising a sub-step (13) for obtaining said criterion value, i.e. the nature or type of said function and classification parameters for said data, based on said data; The classification parameters define whether the data in question is associated with the category Sensitive Data (28) or General Data (31), thus such data is A method that, depending on the nature or type of different functions of the watch (100) , is likely to be necessary for the execution of said functions. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step (12) includes a sub-step (14) of comparing said estimated criterion value with a reference criterion value. Said verification step (15) comprises at least one multi-spectral skin biometric sensor (7) contained within said watch (100), measuring a plurality of regions of said wearer's skin adjacent to said sensor (7). 2. The method of claim 1, comprising the substep (16) of obtaining an image of, said image including said at least one biometric information element contained in said skin site. 4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said verifying step (15) includes the substep ( 20 ) of generating a digital identification element from said at least one biometric information element contained within said acquired image of said skin site. described method. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said verifying step (15) comprises the sub-step (23) of verifying a digital identification element generated assuming said authentication of said wearer. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric information element relates to a vascular network or texture of the skin. A system (1) for controlling access to at least one sensitive data recorded in said memory element (6) of a watch (100) and performing the method according to claim 1, connected to each other, A processing unit (2), a multispectral skin biometric sensor (7), an input interface (5), a visual information reporting interface (4) and two data: general data (31) and said sensitive data (28). and said memory element (6) containing categories. A wristwatch (100), in particular a mechanical smartwatch (100), comprising the system (1) according to claim 7. Computer program comprising program code instructions for performing the steps (10 to 27) of the method according to claim 1, when executed by a processing unit (2).

Images